S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Effectiveness of a social marketing strategy, coupled with law enforcement, to conserve tigers and their prey in Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Area, Lao People’s Democratic Republic Santi Saypanya* 1, 2, Troy Hansel 1, Arlyne Johnson 1, 3, Annalisa Bianchessi 4 and Brooke Sadowsky 4 1 Wildlife Conservation Society, P.O. Box 6712, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic; 2 Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Department of Natural Resources, 111A Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA; 3 Foundations of Success, 4109 4
Maryland Avenue, Bethesda MD 20816,USA; Rare, 1310 N. Courthouse Road, Suite 110 Arlington, VA 2220, USA SUMMARY The Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Areain the Lao People’s Democratic Republic contains the last confirmed breeding population of tigers (Panthera tigris) in Indochina. There are two main threats to tigers, direct killing of tigers and the illegal hunting of wild ungulates, the tigers’ principle prey. Villagers living around the National Protected Area rely on these same ungulates as an important source of protein in their daily diet. The illegal hunting of tigers and prey for commercial trade is unsustainable and is driven by a lack of ownership by local villagers who engage in illegal activities and by government agencies that do not enforce the laws. To reduce these threats the Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Area is using a social marketing campaign in parallel with traditional enforcement to change the behavior of illegal hunters, village members, and government officials. To determine campaign effectiveness, a survey instrument was developed to measure knowledge, attitudes and behavior change, which included both a control and pre and post surveys of target audiences. The pre and post surveys indicate a significant shift along the theory of change from knowledge to behavior change. The assumption is that over time this shift will also lead to threat reduction to, and thus increase of, tiger and prey populations. BACKGROUND 1 Indochinese tiger Panthera tigris corbetti populations in
Southeast Asia are much reduced from their historical numbers
and range (Rabinowitz 1999). There is now only one known
population east of the Mekong River, which is in the 5,950 km2
Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Area in northern Lao
People’s Democratic Republic (Walston, Robinson et al. 2010)
(Figure 1). The Tiger National Strategy and Action Plan
identifies Nam Et Phou Louey as a key site to conserve tigers
for Lao People’s Democratic Republic and the rest of
Indochina (GoL 2010).
Although Nam Et Phou Louey was established for
maintaining viable populations of tigers and other critically
important wildlife, the poaching of wildlife within the National
Protected Area, which is driven by commercial trade networks,
poses a significant threat to both tigers and their ungulate prey.
Before active management of the National Protected Area
began in 2000, villages reported weekly commercial trade in
wildlife products with Vietnamese traders (Davidson 1998).
Gall bladders of gaur Bos frontalis and the antlers of the
Sambar Deer Cervus unicolor were among the products
commonly sold (Vongkhamheng 2002). Today, Sambar,
Muntjac Muntiacus spp., and Eurasian Wild Pig Sus spp. meat
are still illegally traded from villages bordering the National
Protected Area and transported by bus or truck for sale in
urban restaurants and markets, 2 to12 hours away. These
threats escalated in 2011 when the government rebuilt and
widened an old road, which increased access to a part of the
Totally Protected Zone in theNational Protected Area, that
harbored breeding tigers and large ungulate populations
(Johnson et al. 2012).
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected] The consumption of ungulates for subsistence by local
communities presents an additional barrier to tiger
conservation (ICEM 2003, Johnson et al. 2006). Recent studies
indicate that consumption of wild meat, especially by villagers
in the Controlled Use Zone of the National Protected Area is as
much as 50% of household meat consumption and will likely
remain an essential component of human food security until
livestock husbandry can be improved (Krahn & Johnson 2007,
Johnson et al. 2010). The Controlled Use Zone is land in the
National Protected Area adjoining the Totally Protected Zone
where previously settled people may live and carry out
livelihood activities in accordance with the management rules
of the National Protected Area. The National Protected Area,
Totally Protected Zone is a restricted area where animal and
plant species may not be removed, unless local authorities and
the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry provide special
permission (MAF 2001) (Figure 1). Other analyses show that
tiger poaching is closely tied to village cattle grazing practices
in the National Protected Area (Johnson et al. 2006, Lynam et
al. 2006). The evidence indicates that villagers use semipermanent settlements in grazing areas near and within the
National Protected Area, Totally Protected Zone to
opportunistically kill tigers with wire snares and metal leg hold
traps, and also to hunt tigers’ prey. In light of these findings,
efforts to improve villagers’ positive perception of tiger and
prey conservation are needed.
In Nam Et Phou Louey, a baseline survey in 2003-2004
estimated that a minimum of seven and possibly as many as 23
tigers were present in the total effective sampled area of the
Totally Protected Zone (Johnson et al. 2006). The goal for
tigers and prey is to increase tiger abundance by a minimum of
50% by 2015 and to increase prey populations to levels
sufficient to support the increased tiger population. To reach
this goal, objectives are to: i) reduce killing of tigers and prey
in the National Protected Area, ii) reduce the use of fire arms
57
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Figure 1. Map of the Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Areaand surrounding Tiger Conservation Landscape.
for killing tigers and prey, iii) stop hunting in the Totally
Protected Zone and of protected species (including tigers and
large prey) outside the Totally Protected Zone, and iv) to stop
illegal trade of tiger prey from the National Protected Area
(Johnson 2012).
Two major strategies – wildlife law
enforcement and conservation outreach - are currently being
used to achieve these objectives. To assess progress towards
these goals and the effectiveness of these strategies, National
Protected Area teams monitor the status of tiger and prey
populations and threats in the Totally Protected Zone and
across the greater tiger landscape (Johnson et al 2012).
The Wildlife Conservation Society has worked with the
Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the
Nam et Phou Louey on the Tiger Conservation Project
(hereafter called “the project”) since 2002. The project
conducted conservation outreach activities from 2004-2009 in
more than 100 villages in five districts around Nam et Phou
Louey. The conservation activities and materials that were
used were billboards, posters and village visits. The purpose of
the project was to ensure that villagers in five of the seven
districts bordering the National Protected Area, Totally
Protected Zone became aware of the guidelines for natural
resource use in the Controlled Use Zone. The National
Protected Area conservation outreach team then worked with
each village to negotiate the boundary between the Totally
Protected Zone and their Controlled Use Zone. The National
Protected Area staff created and posted 150 signs marking the
Totally Protected Zone boundary to further inform villagers
about the boundary location. ACTION From April 2009 to August 2010, a social marketing
campaign was designed and conducted in 36 target villages
(treatment site) in Viengthong district, Houaphan province.
Concurrently with the campaign, 21 villages in Viengkham
district, Luang Prabang province were selected as a control site
(Figure 2). The two sites were selected to have the same
gender ratio, age group distribution, target audiences, religion,
residence type, family size, geographic locality, and ethnicities.
The National Protected Area management has applied law
enforcement and conservation outreach activities at both sites.
Both have National Protected Area guard posts with constant
foot patrol effort in the Totally Protected Zone adjacent to the
villages.
A Rare pride “campaign” is a program that uses social
marketing (Andreasen 1994) methods to motivate change in
human behavior to achieve biodiversity conservation results,
especially, in developing countries (Jenks, Vaughan et al.
2010). The Nam et Phou Louey campaign developed a Theory
of Change following the Rare pride program framework to
illustrate the desired outcomes of the campaign (Table 1). A
“Theory of Change” is defined as “a systematic and cumulative
study of the links between activities, outcomes, and contexts of
the initiative” (Connell & Kubisch 1998). This paper presents
the monitoring results of the first five stages of the Theory of
Change. The project anticipates that it will take more time to
observe and evaluate change in the final two stages, Threat
Reduction and Conservation Results.
58
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Figure 2. Map showing the location of the 36 villages in Viengthong District where the social marketing campaign was implemented
(treatment site) and 21 villages in Viengkham District (control site), bordering the Nam Et Phou Louey National Protected Area, Lao
People’s Democratic Republic.
Table 1. Theory of change of Nam et Phou Louey social marketing campaign
K
Hunters and villagers
increase their
knowledge of hunting
regulations and the
importance of
following them for
food security in the
local villages.
Hunters, villagers and
government officers
become aware of the
penalties and risks of
breaking wildlife
regulations.
Hunters, villagers and
government officers
know the benefits of
following wildlife
regulations and
benefits of reporting
people who break the
regulations.
+
A
Hunters and villagers
feel greater
ownership over their
natural resources and
agree that the
hunting regulations
are important for
ensuring local food
security. In particular
they agree that
hunting for trade is
wrong as it robs the
local community of
their food.
Government officers
agree that all forms
of illegal hunting and
trade are a serious
offence and they
should be part of the
solution rather than
the problem.
+
IC
Hunters
and
villagers talk to
each other about
benefits
of
following
regulations
for
food security and
the need and
rewards
of
reporting
poachers.
Hunters
talk
about
hunting
regulations and
penalties
and
risks of getting
caught.
Government
officers talk about
following
and
enforcing wildlife
crime regulations.
B
+
Villagers in each
community will put
pressure on hunters
who hunt illegally
(using
modern
weapons
and
equipment
in
village use area and
National Protected
Area core zone
and/or hunting for
trade) to stop.
Government
officers endorsed by
the
District
Governor
will
improve
the
enforcement system
with regards to
wildlife
trade
through
closer
collaboration, better
role division and
enforcement
procedures.
59
B
Hunters will only
hunt legally (hunt
muntjac and wild
pig in village use
area
using
traditional
equipment for food)
and
will
stop
hunting in the core
zone, with modern
equipment,
for
trade, and in other
people’s village use
areas)
Villagers, hunters
and
government
officers report all
illegal hunting to
WCU.
Government
officers will follow
and enforce the
wildlife regulations
T
C
Illegal hunting
(hunting with
modern
equipment, in
the core zone,
in
other
communities’
village
use
areas or for
trade,
and
hunting illegal
species)
of
tiger
prey
species
is
reduced
or
eliminated
Tiger
prey
(Guar, Sambar
Deer, Serow,
Muntjac and
Wild
Pig)
population
increase
allowing tiger
populations to
increase.
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Social marketing campaign design and implementation
A conceptual model (Margoluis et al. 2009) was used to
design the Nam et Phou Louey social marketing campaign in
April 2009 during a meeting with 31 stakeholders from
different sectors of government, NGO and village
representatives.
The stakeholders provided ideas and
experiences to validate and adapt existing conceptual models
originally developed by the project in 2007 (Johnson &
Saypanya 2007). Discussion and small group work were used
to identify the direct causes and indirect threats of ungulate
decline, which includes Guar, Sambar Deer, Serow Capriconis
milneedwardsii, Muntjac and Eurasian Wild Pig.
In May 2009, another stakeholder meeting was held with
forestry section, village headmen, village elders, biologists and
conservationists (national and international). Participants
ranked threats to tigers and their prey, resulting in a prioritized
list of human induced threats. Illegal hunting in the Controlled
Use Zone and the National Protected Area Totally Protected
Zone was identified as the highest ranked threat to be
addressed in the social marketing campaign. The threat
ranking resulted in the selection of two interventions that were
expected to be more effective than others and included, i)
implement a social marketing campaign and, ii) increase the
effectiveness of law enforcement to mitigate illegal hunting
and wildlife trade, while promoting public participation in
reporting wildlife crime through a telephone hotline. In
addition, the conceptual modeling meeting revealed that the
major barrier for public participation was a lack of options for
reporting illegal actions. Thus, the idea of wildlife crime
hotline was introduced to gain public support for reporting
illegal hunting and wildlife trade. The Pride campaign was
proposed as the tool to promote public reporting to the hotline.
The results of the two stakeholder meetings and pre-survey
identified three important audiences who influence the threat of
illegal hunting: illegal hunters, villagers and government
officers. Illegal Hunters were identified as those villagers who
were believed to have the potential to be illegal hunters
because the government issues them guns to provide village
Table 2. Materials and activities used in the Nam et Phou Louey social marketing campaign
Materials
Awning
Billboard
Poster
Sticker
Pledge for conservation certificate
Notebook
Campaign album
Storybook
Mascot
T-shirt, bags and jackets
Activities
Village visit (Puppet show, Hunting game)
Concert
Illegal hunting workshop 1 & 2
Government workshop
Leaders workshop
Spot on public address system
Connection between campaign materials and activities with key messages on behavior
change.
Placed in fantastic location and very visible. Message reminds the Government Officers to
enforcement the laws strictly.
Visually strongly and relates directly to the action to reinforces the slogan and very applicable to
the target audience – people identify with it
Direct action. The stickers will be mobile materials, because they will be put on motorbikes and
cars so they will be travel every the vehicles go, this can affect more audiences.
The pledge will be notification of the target audience to remember what they have pledge in
front of the Muntjac mascot before they go to hunt every time.
2,500 note books targets government officers and illegal hunters. Presents all support points.
1,000 campaign albums were distributed to all audiences where electricity is accessible.
Knowledge of threats and direct actions for audiences.
5,000 storybooks were provided to every household to target villagers and illegal hunters.
Muntjac mascot was the campaign ambassador. Links the mascot to all of the campaign
materials
The t-shirts, bags and jackets are mobile materials, because they will worn by people so they will
be travel every the people who wear them go, this can affect more audiences.
Puppet show was performed before storybooks were given to audiences. The storyline of the
puppet show is the same of the storybooks. This visual game was applied to get participation
from villagers and hunters so they know legality of hunting.
Famous pop stars of the campaign album performed at the concert in from of approximately,
3,000 people.
These interactive workshops aimed to provide direct contact with illegal hunters.
These workshops were held at the center of the district.
5 radio spots were displayed through public address system every evening.
Table 3. Example of questions that the villager audience was asked to measure change in each stage of the Theory of Changein the Nam et
Phou Louey social marketing campaign
Stage of Theory of
Change
Examples of questions included in the survey instrument
Knowledge
“Why do you think ungulates (muntjac and wild board) are important to you?”
Interpersonal
Communication
“I am going to read you a series of statements and I would like you to tell me whether you "strongly agree, agree,
neutral, disagree or strongly disagree" with each statement.” “Outsiders who come to hunt in your Controlled Use
Zone should not be punished.”
“In the past 6 months, have you talked to anyone about how to increase Muntjac and wild pig populations in your
Controlled Use Zone? If you have, please tell me all of the people with whom you have talked to about this”
Barrier Removal
“In the past 6 months, have you heard of anyone receiving a fine for illegal hunting and wildlife trade?”
Behavior Change
“In the past 6 months, have you reported someone who was hunting for trade?”
Attitude
60
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Figure 3. Results chain illustrating Nam et Phou Louey project assumptions about how social market campaign activities will result in
changes in knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal communication of villagers, one of the campaign target audiences, which would in turn
lead to behavior change and threat reduction such that conservation results are achieved. On the bottom, pre and post survey results
showing observed changes in knowledge, attitude, interpersonal communication, barrier removal (reporting to hotline) and behavior of
villagers in the campaign (treatment) and control sites.
security but they may instead use the guns to illegally hunt.
Villagers are all villagers and include legal hunters.
Government Officers are identified as authorities that influence
the enforcement of the legislation governing illegal hunting
and trade, which includes government officers who may
influence the legal process including police, military, National
Protected Area, financial, agriculture and forestry, judiciary
officials (Table 3). In this paper we specifically focus and
present the results from campaign impacts on only the Villager
group.
The Theory of Change was broken down into a results
chain for each audience (see Figure 3). The results chain is
based on the assumption that before adopting a new behavior a
person moves through a series of stages (Vaughan & Rogers
2000), which include pre- contemplation, contemplation,
preparation, validation, action, and maintenance. The results
chain is therefore a framework to outline the results that need
to occur to move the campaign audience though the different
stages of behavior in order to achieve the desired behavior
change. The assumption is that once the audience has gained
the necessary knowledge in relation to the desired behavior
change, the audience has also gained a favorable attitude
towards the idea of adopting the desired behavior, has been
able to talk about the pros and cons of adopting the behavior to
others, and will be ready to adopt the new behavior. The
Theory of Change and results chain further identify any
barriers that must be overcome for the audience to be able to
adopt the desired behavior that could be either emotional or
physical barriers to behavior change. The Theory of Change
further spells out the assumptions made in terms of what threat
reduction is assumed to occur once the behavior change is
adopted and the conservation result the campaign aims to
achieve. Since not all individuals in a target audience will be at
the same stage of behavior, activities and messages need to
reach all groups in all different stages of behavior change.
Results chains for each audience were used to create objectives
that were specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound (Margolius and Salafsky 1998) for each target audience
and helped inform the questions of the survey prior to audience
collection.
The Muntjac was chosen as the flagship species (Clucas et
al. 2008) because it can be legally eaten and does not threaten
livestock and crops as tiger and other ungulates do. A logo
with the image of the Muntjac was designed, tested and
selected by members of the campaign audiences. Several
slogans were created, tested and selected by the same group.
The final slogan was “Hunt for eating – Not extirpation”. This
slogan/logo combination was designed to support the legal
hunters to continue adhering to legal practices, while targeting
the illegal hunters to shift from illegally practices to legal
hunting.
The specific messaging for each audience was created. It
was envisioned that the campaign would build pride in the
legal hunters and villagers to put peer pressure on the illegal
hunters, while creating an avenue for them to report to
appropriate government officers (Figure 3). Similarly it was
assumed that the messaging would encourage government
officials to respond to illegal hunting as reported by the
villagers. To do this, several key messages were brainstormed
from various group discussions, deriving key messages for
illegal hunters, villagers, and government officers. These
messages were taken to the respective audience for discussion,
confirmation and prioritization. The key message selected for
each target audience were; i) Illegal Hunter: “Use the right
tools to hunt managed species in Controlled Use Zone, out of
mating season, for personal consumption only”, ii) Villagers:
“The wildlife food of the villagers is declining – I will report
every time I see illegal hunting and wildlife trade” and iii)
61
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Government officers: “I will follow up on all hunting and
wildlife trade criminal cases, because I am a dedicated
government official who does not buy or sell wildlife.”
Throughout the campaign timeline, village visits, printed
media materials, media activities, workshops, events, and
meetings were produced, implemented and used as the
channels to deliver the campaign slogan and key messages to
target audiences (Table 2). The campaign utilized many
different and diverse types of activities and materials to deliver
the slogan and key messages to the appropriate target
audiences and we reinforced them through multiple channels to
ensure target audiences retained the campaign and to maintain
the momentum of the campaign fever by continuing to engage
audiences with different campaign materials and activities,
while removing any possible barrier from the target audiences.
Barrier Removal - Wildlife Crime Unit and Hotline Design
and Implementation
The Pride campaign sought to promote reporting of illegal
hunting and wildlife trade, while encouraging government
officials to respond to the cases reported. To do so, it was
determined that the existing National Protected Area Wildlife
Crime Unit that was created in 2007 needed to be revived and a
mechanism created to better facilitate the reporting of illegal
activities to the Nam et Phou Louey enforcement unit. Lessons
learned from the initial years of Wildlife Crime Unit
implementation indicated that villagers often found it very
difficult to communicate with the Wildlife Crime Unit, and
even with successful communication the Wildlife Crime Unit
often ignored the reports due to the lack of a point person
responsible for the mobilizing the enforcement efforts. During
the conceptual model and results chains activities, it was
recognized that a weak local enforcement unit would act as a
barrier to an effective outreach campaign achieving the desired
conservation results.
Therefore the outreach team felt
compelled to assist the Nam et Phou Louey and the Wildlife
Crime Unit in redefining the Wildlife Crime Unit mandate,
assigning roles and responsibilities to increase effectiveness.
The revised Wildlife Crime Unit consisted of the heads of
district agencies such as Agriculture and Forestry, Commerce,
Financial, Police and representatives from the Nam et Phou
Louey Management Unit.
The creation of a hotline to facilitate the reporting of illegal
hunting and trading acted as the catalyst between the Nam Et
Phou Louey enforcement and outreach efforts. The campaign
promoted the hotline and Wildlife Crime Unit by branding all
campaign materials and activities with the hotline number.
The campaign further promoted the Wildlife Crime Unit
activities by conducting press releases about each case of
illegal hunting and wildlife trade. A threat of a press release
became a strong tool to encourage perpetrators to pay fines.
Press releases of wildlife crime cases were publicized through
loudspeakers via the public address system in the district town.
Monitoring the effectiveness and impacts of the social
marketing campaign and the wildlife crime unit.
To evaluate whether audiences in the campaign and control
site had been exposed to campaign materials and activities,
audiences were asked to report if they had seen and/or received
campaign materials or attended events.
The campaign
evaluated the effectiveness of the campaign methods by
assessing change in he first five stages of the Theory of
Change (Figure 3) (Kleiman et al. 2000 & Vaughan et al.
2003) using a survey instrument that included questions to
measure the change in knowledge (13 questions), in attitude
(33 questions), in interpersonal communication (four
questions), in barrier removal (six questions), and in the
change in behavior (11 questions). In this paper we report on
results from only one target audience “Villagers”. However all
questionnaires, supplemental materials, and references can be
obtained from http://www.rareplanet.org/en/resource/preand-post-campaign-questionnaires?type=campaign
and
examples of questions are shown in Table 3.
Pre-campaign surveys were conducted with a total of 615
people representing the Hmong, Khamu and Lao Loum ethnic
groups in the campaign site and 570 people in the control site
who met the same criteria. The representation of each ethnicity
was based on the percentage of the total population. Pre and
post surveys for both sites were implemented in the same
locations with the same sample size. Anyone over 15 years old
was randomly interviewed, and the same number of women as
men. Village militia and police were surveyed in each village
as potential illegal hunters.
Surveys were administered from July 13 – 21, 2009
(campaign site) and July 24 – 30, 2009 (control site) by ten
enumerators, of which eight were national WCS staff and two
were national volunteers, all of whom were trained before
conducting the pre surveys. Fourteen months later, 13
enumerators, of which seven were new WCS national staff,
one volunteer and five WCS conservation outreach staff from
the previous year conducted the post surveys from September
19 – 24, 2010 (campaign site) and from September 28 –
October 6, 2010 (control site). Responses of audiences from
the pre and post campaign surveys were evaluated for
significant change (Chi-square 95% or above).
Prior to implementing the Wildlife Crime Hotline an Excel
database was created and used to track patrolling activities,
responses to reports, cases closed and prosecutions. The
coordinator of the hotline and Wildlife Crime Unit also created
a logbook for the hotline. The logbook included incoming
telephone number, time, date, length of call, type of report and
responses to the hotline. The hotline coordinator entered data
Table 4. Statistical analysis on exposure to campaign materials, events and activities
Exposure
Billboard
Poster
Spot on public
address system
Chi squared
Treatment
Control
37.0050
2.4220
65.5240
21.2880
Degrees of freedom
Treatment
1.00
1.00
Control
1.00
1.00
P-value
Treatment
0.0001
0.0001
Control
0.1196
0.0001
58.2290
9.8690
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.0001
Campaign song
58.1620
6.3410
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.0118
Community visit
33.7500
3.0420
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.0812
Participate illegal
hunter workshop
67.1900
3.8560
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.0496
62
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Percentage of villagers audience exposed to materials and activities
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Pre campaign
Post campaign
Pre control
Campaign materials and activities
Post control
Figure 4. The reported exposure of Villager audience to campaign activities and materials in campaign and control sites before and after (pre
and post) implementation of the campaign.
into both the logbook and the monitoring Excel database and
created reports to Nam et Phou Louey Management Unit.
CONSEQUENCES Pre and post survey results were used to compare the
exposure of the Villager audiences to Pride campaign materials
and activities at the campaign and control sites (Figure 4).
There was a significant increase in villager exposure to the
poster, the public address system spot, and the illegal hunting
workshop (Table 4).
Some materials and activities including billboards, the
campaign song and the village visit had a high percentage of
exposure in both the campaign and control sites. This is likely
because the Villager audience had been exposed to these same
types of materials and activities when they were used by the
National Protected Area outreach team from 2004-2009 prior
to the campaign. It is also possible that audience were
confused between the campaign song and other wildlife songs
broadcast by the Lao National Radio station through a different
WCS project, the “Friends of Wildlife” program. A 2005
impact assessment of the radio program (Saypanya et al. 2005)
showed that 40% of the population in the control and campaign
sites listened to the radio and that the Friends of Wildlife
program was ranked fourth highest out of 14 programs that
people reported listening to.
The quantitative survey results (Figure 3) from a subset of
questions asked to the villager audience (Table 3) indicate that
the campaign was effective in significantly increasing the
knowledge, attitude, interpersonal communication of the
villager audience at the campaign site, which in turn led to
significant change in both barrier removal and behavior of the
campaign audience.
Knowledge: The proportion of the village audience that
exhibited knowledge about the importance of ungulates as food
increased significantly in both the campaign and control sites
(Table 5). The increase at both locations may be the
consequence of the National Protected Area doing similar
outreach activities from 2004-2009 in both the campaign and
control sites. In addition, villagers in these two sites are in
frequent communication so it is possible that the knowledge of
villagers in the control site was also influenced by the change
in knowledge at the campaign site.
Attitude: There was a significant increase in the proportion
of the village audience at the campaign site indicating that
illegal hunting and trade should be punished, which was likely
influenced by more people being knowledgeable about the
importance of ungulates as a food source. In contrast, in the
control site the proportion of the villager audience exhibiting
an attitude that illegal activities should be punished was high in
both the pre and post survey and did not significantly increase
(Table 5). Even though similar outreach activities were done in
both sites prior to the campaign, these activities were not as
intensive and did not seem to have the same lasting effect in
the campaign site as they appear to have had in the control site.
We think this may be because the district in the control site has
always been more supportive of the National Protected Area
regulations than the district in the campaign site. Thus, the
campaign site may have required an intensive campaign effort
to see significant change in attitude.
Interpersonal Communication: There was a significant
increase in reports of interpersonal communication among the
villager audience in the campaign site about how to increase
ungulate populations by reducing illegal hunting post survey
but not in the control site (Table 5). This suggests that the
63
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 exposure to the campaign materials and events (e.g., the Public
Announcement system spots), along with changes in
knowledge and attitude did lead to more communication in the
campaign site. In the control site, even though a relatively large
proportion of the villager audience were knowledgeable and
felt that illegal activities should be punished, interpersonal
communication did not change because exposure to campaign
materials and events was low.
Barrier removal: There was a significant increase at the
campaign site in the percentage of the villager audience that
reported hearing of someone receiving a fine for illegal hunting
and trade, but not in the control site where there was little
change (Table 5). This suggests that reporting and enforcement
to restrict illegal hunting and trade had increased in the
campaign site relative to the control site.
Behavior Change: The number of villagers responding that
they had reported someone for illegally hunting for trade
increased significantly in the campaign site as compared to the
control site where there was no significant increase in reporting
(Table 5). These results provide strong evidence that the
campaign was effective in ultimately changing behavior of
villagers in the campaign site to take action against illegal
hunting and trade. Even though, we initially observed that
knowledge and attitude towards illegal hunting and trade in the
control site was generally positive, the absence of the
campaign events and materials, and the Wildlife Crime Unit
hotline did not result in significant behavior change in the
control site.
There are also qualitative indications that the campaign was
effective in changing the behavior of villagers. In one case, a
village hunter that was arrested and fined by Wildlife Crime
Unit felt that he was innocent so he appealed to the Wildlife
Crime Unit that he had been wrongly accused of hunting
illegally. In making his case, he confidently explained that he
had used a legal weapon, a machete to kill a hog badger
Arctonyx collaris, a legal species to hunt, in his own village
use zone and for his family’s consumption, not for trade. The
authorities responded that while he had complied with most of
the laws he broke only one rule, which was hunting during a
closed season. This example illustrates how village hunters
had changed as a result of the social marketing campaign
messaging. Even though the hunter had broken one of the
hunting regulations he was confident to appeal because he felt
he had followed the principles of legal hunting promoted by
the campaign.
We also found anecdotal evidence of the campaign’s
effectiveness in the interpersonal communication between the
campaign audience and people from outside the campaign area
that had not been exposed to campaign materials and activities.
These outsiders criticized the campaign slogan saying that it
encouraged more hunting whereas those that had been exposed
to the campaign materials and activities understood the
principles of sustainable hunting practices that were
represented in the slogan.
The outreach team also interviewed one hunter and one
general villager to get their feedback on the campaign. The
hunter used to hunt and trade illegally, but because of the
campaign had stopped. He told the Wildlife Crime Unit on the
identity of key perpetrators, how they move around the district,
and reported illegal activities that led to multiple arrests. He
said he thought the campaign was targeted at the correct
audiences and appreciated the campaign organizer’s contact
time with the communities. He felt the hotline number was a
very effective way to report illegal activities and said, “If we
continue reporting this way the wild animals in the Nam et
Phou Louey National Protected Area will increase.” The
general villager appreciated the size and scale of the campaign,
which the district never had before. He said the activities were
good to encourage people to begin using natural resources,
especially wildlife more sustainably.
Public response to the Wildlife Crime Unit hotline also
indicates that the campaign was effective in facilitating public
reporting of illegal hunting and trade. While the hotline was in
operation during the campaign (May – October 2010) more
than 250 people called the hotline number. Out of these, 82
calls reported illegal hunting and wildlife trade, which led to
22 perpetrators being arrested and the cases turned over to the
Wildlife Crime Unit for resolution and closure. The other 60
calls did not lead to sufficient information for the Wildlife
Crime Unit to respond. The 168 calls that were not reporting
wildlife crime were mostly from concerned citizens who were
checking to see if the hotline was real, reachable and
responsive. Most of the invalid calls were made just after the
hotline was created and promoted at the beginning of the
campaign.
CONCLUSIONS The assumptions in the conceptual model, the theory of
change and results chains proved to be accurate. The pre and
post surveys indicate a significant shift along the theory of
change from knowledge to behavior change. Over time this
shift should also lead to threat reduction to, and thus potential
increase of, tiger and prey populations.
The change in interpersonal communication as a result of
the campaign is particularly impressive. Anecdotally, we see
that target audiences and outsiders still debate the campaign
slogan 18 months after the post survey. The district governor
of the campaign site regularly reminds Nam et Phou Louey
staff that the campaign was effective at changing people’s
Table 5. Statistical analysis on Theory of Change
Theory of Change
Knowledge
Attitude
Interpersonal
Communication
Chi squared
Treatment
Control
Degrees of freedom
Treatment
Control
P-value
Treatment
Control
106.497
80.403
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.0001
168.620
0.545
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.4606
28.088
2.070
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.1502
41.441
1.589
1.00
1.00
0.0001
0.2075
4.910
1.458
1.00
1.00
0.0267
0.2273
Barrier Removal
Behavior change
64
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 behavior but activities need to be maintained and expanded to
new areas and that the project should build a statue of the
Muntjac mascot to help keeping the campaign momentum to
maintain changed behaviors. He suggests minor changes to the
campaign slogan in line with the original campaign objectives,
thus suggesting that he has also moved along the theory of
change to a new stage.
Before the campaign, villagers rarely openly displayed their
crossbows because they were unsure of their legality. Overt
displays of villagers carrying their legal hunting equipment
(crossbows) in front of the Wildlife Crime Unit suggests that
villagers now understand the laws and find confidence in
subsistence hunting.
In parallel with the effectiveness of the campaign there are
several challenges. The first is that enforcement activities are
risky and Wildlife Crime Unit staff are reluctant to take action
at times. It is difficult to find strong leadership and staff with
sufficient time to commit to the work. Without a strong
Wildlife Crime Unit it is difficult to maintain the barrier
removal that is necessary to support the campaign. A second
challenge is communications between the hotline network and
the Wildlife Crime Unit where cell phone coverage is limited
and sometimes non-existent in some campaign locations.
Third, the incentives for hotline reporters must be paid in a
timely fashion and at times, the Wildlife Crime Unit is slow or
non-responsive at rewarding reporters. If the informant
network is not maintained, the Wildlife Crime Unit cannot
keep abreast of illegal activities. Tracking unpaid fines is
challenging and a new mechanism is needed to ensure that
fines are paid and are announced on the district’s public
address system.
Although our monitoring indicates that the social marketing
campaign was effective in contributing to behavior change that
has led to an increase in reporting and punishment of wildlife
crime, it is still not certain if these actions will be sufficient to
achieve our threat reduction objectives or the goals for our
targets. Preliminary results from recent biological surveys
estimate that large ungulate populations in the National
Protected Area are increasing but that tiger abundance has
declined (Johnson et al. 2012).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to acknowledge the Nam et Phou Louey
management unit for their support during and after the pride
campaign. Since the campaign inception until now the
Viengthong District Authorities have worked hard to carry out
the Wildlife Crime Unit. We would also like to thank the many
staff both WCS and government who helped carry out the pride
campaign activities. Acknowledgement and credit must be
given to Wildlife Conservation Society and Rare for both
financial and technical supports. Rare played an important role
supporting this campaign well after the official campaign
dates.
REFERENCES Andreasen A. R. (1994) Social Marketing: Its Definition and
Domain. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 13, 108114.
Clucas B., McHugh K. & Caro T. (2008) Flagship species on
covers of US conservation and nature magazines.
Biodiversity and Conservation, 17, 1517-1528.
Connell J. P. & Kubisch A. C. (1998) Applying a theory of
change approach to the evaluation of comprehensive
community initiatives: progress, prospects, and problems.
New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives, 2
(15-44).
Davidson P. (1998) A Wildlife and Habitat Survey of Nam Et
Phou Louey National Biodiversity Conservation Areas,
Houaphanh Province, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. .
CPAWM / WCS Cooperative Program, Vientiane.
GoL. (2010) National Tiger Action Plan for Lao People’s
Democratic Republic 2010-2020. Division of Forestry
Resource Conservation, Department of Forestry, Ministry
of Agriculture and Forestry, Vientiane.
ICEM. (2003) Economic benefits of protected areas: field
studies in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
Thailand and Vietnam Review of Protected Areas and
Development in the Lower Mekong River Region.
International Centre for Environmental Management,
Indooroopilly, Queensland..
Jenks B., Vaughan P. W. & Butler P. J. (2010) The evolution
of RarePride: Using evaluation to drive adaptive
management in a biodiversity conservation organization.
Evaluation and Program Planning, 33, 186-190.
Johnson A. (2012) A Landscape Summary for the Nam EtPhou Louey National Protected Area, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic. Pages 73-90 in: T.C.H..SunderlandJ.
Sayer & H. Minh-Ha (eds.), Evidence-based conservation:
lessons from the lower Mekong. Earthscan, London.
Johnson A., Hansel T & Goodrich J. (2012) Tigers Forever in
the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area, Lao
People’s Democratic Republic (August 2012). Presentation
at the Tigers Forever Annual Meeting, Bangkok, Thailand.
Johnson A., Krahn J. & Seateun S. (2010) Finding the
Linkages between Wildlife Management and Household
Food Consumption in the Uplands of Lao People’s
Democratic Republic: A Case Study from the Nam Et-Phou
Louey National Protected Area. New York: Wildlife
Conservation Society - TransLinks Program
Johnson A & Saypanya S. (2007) Strategic planning workshop
to develop a conceptual model, monitoring framework and
annaul workplan for the Nam Et-Phou Louey National
Protected Area. Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic
Republic: Wildlife Conservation Society and the Nam EtPhou Louey Protected Area Management Unit.
Johnson A., Vongkhamheng C., Hedemark M. & Saithongdam
T. (2006) Effects of human-carnivore conflict on tiger
(Panthera tigris) and prey populations in Lao People’s
Democratic Republic. Animal Conservation, 9, 421-430.
Kleiman D. G., Reading R. P., Miller J. B., Clark W. T., Scott
J. M., Robinson J., Wallace L. R., Cabin J. R. & Felleman
F. (2000)Improving the Evaluation of Conservation
Programs. Conservation Biology, 14, 356-365
Krahn J. & Johnson A. (2007) Food security and wildlife
management. Juth Pakai, 9, 17-33.
Lynam J., Venevongphet & Saypanya S. (2006) Towards a
wildlife protection strategy for the Nam Et Phou Louey
National Protected Area Based on results from a workshop
help at Viengthong District . Vientiane: Wildlife
Conservation Society.
MAF (2001) Regulation on the management of national
biodiversity conservation areas (NBCAS), aquatic and wild
life. Vientiane: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Margoluis R. & Salafsky N. (1998) Measures of success:
designing, managing, and monitoring conservation and
development projects. Island Press, Washington D.C..
65
S. Saypanya, T. Hansel, A. Johnson, A. Bianchessi & B. Sadowsky/ Conservation Evidence (2013) 57‐66 Margoluis R., Stem C., Salafsky N. & Brown M. (2009) Using
conceptual models as a planning and evaluation tool in
conservation. Evaluation and Program Planning, 32, 138147. doi: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2008.09.007
Rabinowitz A. (1999) The status of the Indochinese tiger:
separating fact from fiction. Pages 148-165 in: J.
Seidensticker, S. Christie & P. Jackson (eds.), Riding the
tiger: tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Saypanya S., Hansel T & Duangsavanh S. (2005) Mass Media
Conservation Outreach in Lao People’s Democratic
Republic . Wildlife Conservation Society, Vientiane.
Vaughan C., Gack J., Solorazano H. & Ray R. (2003) The
Effect of Environmental Education on Schoolchildren,
Their Parents, and Community Members: A Study of
Intergenerational and Intercommunity Learning. Journal of
Environmental Education, 34, 12-21.
Vaughan P. & Rogers E. (2000) A Staged Model of
Communication Effects: Evidence from an EntertainmentEducation Radio Soap Opera in Tanzania. Journal of
Health Communication, 5, 203-227.
Vongkhamheng C. (2002) Participatory wildlife diversity
monitoring with different ethnic groups, in Nam Et - Pou
Loey National Biodiversity Conservation Areas, Northern
Lao People’s Democratic Republic. M.Sc. thesis. Mahidol
University, Bangkok.
Walston J., Robinson J. G., Bennett E. L., Breitenmoser U., da
Fonseca, G. A. B., Goodrich J., Gumal M., Hunter L.,
Johnson A., Karanth K. U., Leader-Williams N.,
MacKinnon K., Miquelle D., Pattanavibool A., Poole C.,
Rabinowitz A., Smith J. L. D., Stokes E. J., Stuart S. N.,
Vongkhamheng C., Wibisono H. & Mace G. M. (2010).
Bringing the tiger back from the brink – the six percent
solution. . PLoS Biology 8, e1000485.
Conservation Evidence is an open‐access online journal devoted to publishing the evidence on the effectiveness of management interventions. The pdf is free to circulate or add to other websites. The other papers from Conservation Evidence are available from the website www.ConservationEvidence.com 66